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F. DANZBNBAKER'. BEBHIVB.

No. 600,245. Patented Mar. 8, 1898.

UNiED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

FRANCIS DANZENBAKER, OF TWASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

BEEHIVE.

" SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,245, dated March 8, 1898.

Application filed November 9, 1896. Serial No. 611,497.1 (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern;

Beit known that I, FRANCIS DANZENBAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beehives; and I do hereby declare the 'following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, in which-` Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section from front to rear of my hive. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the hive with the top-cover removed; Fig. 3, a perspective view of a portion of the upper part of the hive, looking at the inside; Fig. e, a transverse section of my honey-section; Fig. 5, a transverse section of my hive-top cover; Fig. 6, a detail perspective view of an end portion of the follower-board for the brood-frames. Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective views of the top cover, showing the upper and bottom sides thereof, respectively.

The design of my invention is to improve the construction of beehives in respect to the honey-sections, the separators, the means employed for supporting the brood and honeysection frames, and the hive-top cover; and with these objects in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified and claimed.

In the carrying of my invention into practice any approved form of hive may be employed; but I prefer and illustrate one of similar construction to that shown in my Patent No. 547,164, issued October l, 1895, which comprises a bottom A, two rectangular cases B and B, superimposed one upon the other, and a top-cover whose construction will be fully described hereinafter. The two cases B and B are of like dimensions horizontally;

Vbut the lower case or brood-chamber, which contains the brood-frames C, of usual construction, is preferably deeper than the upper case or super, which contains the honeysections D, placed in frames E.

On the inside'of the front and rear end of each case B, in the lower part thereof, I fasten, by nails or otherwise, a bar or cleat F,

which extends horizontally from side to side of the case, as in the former patent. For the sake of lightness and to provide dead-air spaces each of said cleats, on its side next the oase side, is provided with channels or cavities f and f.

The cleats or bars F of the snperB fill the space between the inner sides of the super and the honey-section frames E; but a beespace e is left between sides of the lower case B and the brood-frames C. At the top of each of the bars F of the brood-chamber is placed a narrow strip G, that fills the space between the chamber side and the brood-frames. The purpose of the bee-space e is to avoid possible injury to the bees by pinching or crushing them in placing the frames in position in the hive.

Projecting from the outer side ofthe end pieces of the brood and honey-section frames are lugs or pins I, one for each end piece, that in the case of the honey-section frames rest upon the upper edges of the bars F and F, and in the case of the brood-frames rest upon the upper edges of the strips G and G.

The pins I are preferably round, with iiat heads, driven through the vertical bars of the frames from the inside, with their heads countersunk. Said pins are thus firmly attached to the frames. and constitute strong and reliable supports.

The pins I of the brood-frames are located at t-he vertical center thereof to enable the frames to be inverted without disturbing the bee-space above them when, for insuring the fastening of the comb all around the frame, inversion may be found necessary and also to diminish the effect of the natural shrinkage of the wood on the bee-space. Where the point of support of the frames is at the extreme top or bottom, it is obvious that the bee-space must be affected by an amount equal to the entire shrinkage; but Where the point of support is central the amount of change of the bee-space is just one-half the entire shrinkage, since the shrinkage affecting the bee-space is only that on the side of the support between the support and the beespace.

The location of pins I at the middle or vertical center of the brood-frames requires that the strips G and G shall be situated sui- IOO ciently below the middle of the brood-chamber that the upper pin-engaging`surface of said strips will be just a bee-space below the middle of the chamber. This provides the bee-space above the brood-frames.

' The pinsI thatI prefer to employ are round, as heretofore described., because of the slight surface contact such form has on the supporting strip or bar, thus obviating any trouble from the presence of dirt and as Well the possible destruction of bees by catching or pinching, which might occur with an extended bearing-surface.

As it is not necessaryin the case of the section-frames to have the pins I at the vertical center thereof, I preferably locate them the same distance from the bottom of the frames that the .pins I of the brood-frames are from the tops of the latter for convenience in boring the holes for the reception of the said pins, the same adjustment of the boring-machine thus being made to answer for both brood and honey-section frames. This, however, brings said pins I well below the top of the honey-section frames. By my pin form of support and the location thereof I secure the following advantage, viz: As the end pieces e and e' of the honey-section frames are not connected at the top and as the joint between them and the horizontal bar is ilexible or yielding in some degree, the weight of the honey-filled sections upon said horizontal bar causes the ends to move from the bar and thus press inward upon the honey-sections, so as to force or squeeze the latter tightly together and thus prevent the leaving of spaces between adjacent section sides.

It will be observed by the retention of the bars or cleats F all of the advantages referred to in my former patent are preserved in respect to facility of access to the frames, thel formation of dead-air spaces, and the provision of the bee-escape, which last is shown as a, simple hole K, cut vertically through the bar or cleat F and the stri'p Gr thereon. By the provision of supports in the form of bars ror cleats attached to the case sides no cutting or rabbeting of the latter is required that would diminish the strength and durability of the case and lessen the material available for nailing. By placing said cleats down within the hive the brood-framesl and honey-section frames can be dropped into place, and by having the upper surfaces of the cleats smooth said frames can be readily moved sidewise and turned on the round pins for inspection.

It will be apparent that by the use of the pins placed at the center of the brood-frames the latter are rendered reversible.

At each end of the customary followerboard L for pressing the brood and honeysection frames tightly together in their respective cases I attach on the side next to the case side a vertically-arranged strip Z, having its surface toward the latter inclined downward and outward, and to cooperate Vcontiguous side of the case.

with said strip I employ a Wedge form of bar M, that is forced between the same and the By this doublewedge construction a uniform pressure is applied to the follower from top to bottom, so that all abutting surfaces of the frames are tightly held together. By pressing the wedgebar M to one side it will be easily and instantly released, so that the loosening and removal of the parts can be expeditiously accomplished. Said wedge devices by filling the space between the follower and case side perfect the dead-air spaces between the ends gof the frames and the end walls of the cases and also prevent access of bees to said spaces.

comb next to it. This insures full-depth cells in the comb next to the follower.

' Honey-sections as made heretofore have had projections at both sides to form the requisite bee-spaces, or they have had no projections at all for this purpose, in which latter case the bee-spaces have been provided by the use of separators having vertical .cleats or strips. The first-mentioned construction is open to two important objections, both of which are connected with the packing of the filled sections for shipping or display. The rst objection is thatin packing a number of sections side by side in the packing-case there is a waste of room by reason of the projections and the second is'that the section next the glazed display-opening of the packingcase cannot have its honey appear to advantage by reason of the honey being back from the glass a distance equal to the thickness of the projections on onel side of the section. Obviously the nearer the glass the honey is the better it can be seen. The second-mentioned construction is open to the objection that as the surface of the honey comes out to or beyond the plane of the section sides when two sections are placed together there is danger of the honey in one striking the honey of the other and causing breakage of the cappings, resulting in loss of honey, as well as injury to its appearance. Iprovide a honeysection that avoids all of the objections above noted, and I do it by making one side perfectly smooth or straight and form projections d on the other side that extend to within a short distance of top rand bottom of the section. By the absence of the projections lspace between the follower and the -broody IOO By the projections on the other side the danger of the surfaces of the honey of two sections injuring each other is averted, if the sections are placed together so that the projections on one come next the side of the other having no project-ions.

In arranging my new sections in the hive they can be placed so that the projections on one row of sections come toward the plane or straight sides of those of the neXt row, in which event a separator N will be used, having, as best seen in Fig. 3, cleats n n on one side and plane on the other, the former coming next the plane sides of the sections to form the bee-space and the latter against the projections CZ d. The intermediate cleats n are of a length shorter than the height of the sections, so as to leave a passa-ge for the bees, but the two end cleats extend to the top of the end bars of the section-holders, against the inner faces of which they abut, so as to protect the same from the deposit of propolis by bees. Another advantage arising from placing the end cleats inside of the holders is that the latter need not be varied in size to adapt them for use with the other two forms of section, hereinbefore referred to. A uniform size of holder will answer for all three forms, as the use or non-use of cleats will compensate for the differences in the sections. Instead of the arrangement of the sections above described they may be placed as shown in Fig. 2, so that separators N', with cleats on both sides, will alternate with separators N, having no cleats at all, this result being attained by placing the first and second rows of sections with their plane sides toward each ot-her,with a double-cleated separatorbetween them, the third row with its projections toward the projections of the second row, a plain separator being there employed, and so on. The separators have projections or extensions n' at their opposite ends to support them from the bars F, and the followers have projections or extensions Z2 for a like purpose. By thus supporting the separators the work of putting them in place is much facilitated, since they can most easily and readily be dropped in position, requiring but little care and attention. Although unconnected with the section-frames E, yet as they are supported from the same bars F that support said frames the separators are sure to be placed with their top edges in the right position relative to the tops of the honey-sections and maintained in such position, which is one that provides a bee space or way. The separators are preferably formed of several separated horizontal strips of thin Wood, as plainly shown in Figs. l and 3; but of course I do not limit myself to this construction, as a single piece' sufficiently wide may be used or several pieces placed edge to edge without spaces between them may be used. I condense, by rolling or otherwise pressing, the wood sheets or strips forming the separators, so as to stiften or strengthen the same to enable them to resist twisting or warping and to give them a smooth surface to avoid the likelihood of the bees attaching comb thereto. To add to the smoothness of the surface and to thoroughly fill the pores of the Wood, I preferably apply paraffin thereto by soaking the wood before it is pressed.

. Bars or strips a and a., wedge shape in crosssection, are forced into the top of the' spaces between the frames C and E and the sides of the cases B and B to close such spaces and to securely hold the parts in position. Said strips or bars rest on or bear against the upper edges of the separator and follower projections or extensions n and Z2.

My improved top cover, as best shown in Fig. 5, is made of three pieces of wood O, O, and O, placed side by side and held together by two rails P and P, placed at opposite ends, that are grooved to receive a tongue Q,formed on said pieces, a nail p being driven through each rail at the center into the center piece O and one p into each side piece near its inner edge. Each side piece at its upper side on its inner edge is provided with a tongue Q, that enters a groove in the edge of the center piece. Said tongue is substantially Wedge shape, but has its inner edge and under side curved instead of flat, so as to obviate sharp edges. The wedge-shaped form of the tongue, and of course the corresponding form of the groove, enables the tongue to be most easily thrust home to place in the groove, as will be readily understood.

To enable the top to shed water, the upper surfaces of the two side pieces incline down- IOC' ward from the center piece to their outer edges, and to prevent water seeping through the joint between the upper side of the tongue Q and the groove side the upper side of the tongue is put in a higher plane than the highest point of the main top surface of each side piece.

Suitable cuts or kerfs R are made in the underside of each piece O to counteract warping. By the use of three pieces of wood in making my top cover I provide a cheap construction ,since narrow lumber is cheaper than Wide, and obviate warping, as obviously narrow stuff will not twist or wind like Wide. As the nails are at the center that connect the rails P and the pieces. 0, the outer portions of the side pieces are free to expand and contract without injury.

At each of the two side edges of, the top cover on its under side, where it projects beyond the hive, I provide a groove or channel S, that runs parallel with the side of the hive and serves to catch and stop the water tending to pass along the under surface of the top cover and causes it to collect at lsuch point until it forms a drop sufficiently large to fall outside the hive.

The rails P are shorter than the Width of the cover, so that the edges of the side pieces O project beyond their ends. This enables the grooves S to be placed beyond the ends IZO of the rails, so as to avoid the entrance of water into the tongue-and-groove joint between said pieces O and the rails. Another advantage of having the rails shorter instead of longer than the width of the cover is that when longer the rail ends project and are in danger of being struck and the rails torn off.

To prevent water from finding its way from the top surface of the cover info the joint between each rail and the ends of the pieces O, I form a groove or channel T, running from side to side of the cover adajcent to each rail, that will intercept the water and serve as a gutter, carrying it off the hive-top. Said grooves or channels T are each preferably given the shape in cross-section shownthat is, the surface of the Wood is inclined downwardly away from the side of the rail to a vertical or abrupt surface. The inclined surface will obviously quickly shed Jthe Awater away from the rail.

In practice I employ with my new hive the parafned paper mats covered by my Patent No. 521,876, dated June 26, 1894.

*I do not make any claim herein to the headed pins I, applied, as shown and described, to the honey section frames and brood-frames, nor to the means for supporting the separators by projectionsat their ends, as these features are made the subject of claims in an application filed by me January 21, 1898, Serial No. 667,457.

1. In a beehive, the combination of the hive-case having projections on its inner side, honey-section frames, each consisting of vertical bars and a horizontal bar connecting the former only at their bottoms, and lugs or pins .projecting from the outer sides of the vertical end bars and engaging the case projections,

said end bars being adapted to yield inwardly l under weight on the horizontal bar, substantially as specified.

2. A top cover for beehives, consisting of three pieces tongued and grooved together at their adjoining edges, each side piece thereof having an inclined top surface whose highest point is below the joint between the tongue and groove, and rails at the lopposite ends of said pieces, substantially as specified.,

3. A top cover for beehives, consisting of three pieces, Wedge shaped tongues and grooves connecting them having rounded surfaces, and the top surface of each side piece being inclined with its highest point below the top of the tongue-and-groove joint, rails grooved to engage the ends of said pieces, and nails fastening the latter. and the rails together, substantially as specified.

4. A honey-section having all of the edges on one side in the same plane, and projections from two opposite edges of the other side, substantially as specified.

5. In a beehive, the combination of the hive-case, the honey-section frames therein, honey-sections on said Iframes having projections on but one side, and separators having cleats to engage the smooth sides of the sections, substantially as specified.

6. In a beehive, the combination of the hive-case, the honey-section frames therein, honey-sections on said frames,and separators that engage the inner faces of the end bars of the said frames, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presenceof two witnesses.

FRANCIS DANZENBAKER.

Witnesses:

CIIAs. J. WILLIAMSON, L. A. WILLIAMSON. 

